By Lori M. Nichols
NJ.com
August 17, 2015
PHILADELPHIA — The 2015 Philadelphia Eagles cheerleading squad took the field for the first time Sunday afternoon. The cheerleaders performed throughout the preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Click here to view the gallery.
by Chris Oberholtz
KCTV 5
August 17, 2015
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
The Kansas City Chiefs cheerleaders have been working hard for months, gearing up for the first home preseason game.
And after practicing for hours, multiple days a week, they’re ready to take the field Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.
“We cheer really long games, it is multiple hours,” cheerleading coach Stephanie Judah said. “So, to be able to physically do it, they have to train like an athlete.”
The 33 women who make up the Chiefs cheerleading squad have been training like athletes every week since auditioning back in March.
“We have practice for 4 hours, twice a week and games on Sunday,” said Chiefs cheerleader, Hannah. “Outside of that, we have personal trainers. So they’ve given us our own individualized plans we follow on our off days.”
Outside of the training and practices, these women also have full-time careers.
“I have nurses, I have teachers, we’ve had lawyers before,” Judah said. “When you have a job, when you have a full-time student schedule on top of practices and appearances, you have to learn to be organized, learn how to be responsible, but also, learn to be the best you can.”
It is a balancing act for most of the women, who say the hectic lifestyle pays off when their boots hit the turf on game days.
“My favorite thing is interacting with the fans on Sunday their energy is so high it feels like a family, you feel like you’re home and it’s so cool to be a part of something so major in this city,” Hannah said.
For these women, it is not just about connecting with fans on the field but creating a lasting impression in the community.
“The main role of being a cheerleader is being a role model for young girls, women of all ages,” Hannah said.
You can see the Chiefs’ cheerleaders in action on Friday when the Chiefs take on the Seattle Seahawks at Arrowhead Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. You can also watch the game on KCTV5.
The 2015-16 Jacksonville Jaguars Cheerleaders are now online! The team’s website has been updated with individual headshots and profiles. I have to say, I don’t quite understand the logic of blacking out half of the photo. After all, isn’t the point of this to show the ladies in uniform? But hey, maybe it’s temporary (she said hopefully.) Click here to check it out!
Click here to check out photos from this year’s auditions on the AAIA Facebook page.
Top row (L-R): Brooklyn*, Jamie, Haley, Director Stephanie DiBiase-Wheat, alumnus Sasha Sessums, Jessica, Cassie, Kayla
Middle row: Kelli, Amy A., Vivian*, Elise, Stashia
Bottom row: Britnai, Amy K.*, Laura, Somer, Kelsey*
*veteran
There were 25 hopefuls at San Diego Ice Arena vying to be part of AHL team’s inaugural season
By Kirk Kenney
August 15, 2015
With temperatures in the 90s around the county, the San Diego Ice Arena was a pretty cool place to be on Saturday afternoon.
And, what do you know, it just happened to coincide with the San Diego Gulls’ audition for ice girls.
There are a number of tasks to tackle as the Gulls ramp up for their inaugural season in the American Hockey League.
Identifying ice girls was on Saturday’s agenda, and 25 hopefuls gathered on the ice in Mira Mesa, each vying for one of the eight to 12 spots to be filled.
So what are the Gulls looking for in ice girls?
“We’re looking for the bubbly personality and ones that are passionate about hockey as well,” said Lacey O’Connor, who is Gulls marketing and social media producer.
O’Connor said it’s important that they are good ambassadors for the team.
“They do a lot with the fans and a lot of community events as well, so we just want people who are interested in being the face of the brand,” she said.
Ice girls will be a significant presence at home games, engaging with fans on ice and around the arena.
Part of their on-ice responsibilities include ice maintenance, so the audition included two cone drills — one to show skating ability and another to demonstrate ice-shoveling dexterity.
Most of those who attended the audition were college-age women. Before the on-ice portion of the audition, each was asked to introduce herself and provide a fun fact.
One woman said she had worked on Carnival Cruises, where, during a magic show, she was turned into a white tiger (she was in human form again for the audition). One was a bio chemistry major. One was an endurance skater from France. One said her last name means “family of wolves.” And on and on.
There were several San Diego natives, while others’ origins were Maine, Minnesota and points in between.
There was a wide range of skating skills, from those with wobbly ankles on the verge of losing their balance — one woman fell on her backside while trying to shovel, hurting her pride more than anything else — to those who had been skating for more than a decade. Several had hockey and/or figure skating backgrounds.
Kelsey Hannah displayed the best skating skills. In fact, it looked like she was tempted to knock a Gulls official into the boards as she finished the cone drill.
“I started skating when I was 5 years old at the rink in UTC,” said Hannah, who grew up playing hockey on boys teams. She went away to boarding school in Indiana and played in a girls league before coming back home.
“Now I’m in men’s beer leagues again where I started,” she said.
Hannah grew up in Clairemont and attended Cal State San Marcos. She works now for a mediation firm. Asked what interested here about being an ice girl, Hannah said: “Why wouldn’t I want to do this? Ice skating. I love ice hockey. When I go to games and see the girls getting the crowd excited, it just looks so fun.”
Panda Wilson, a Granite Hills graduate who teaches figuring skating at the Kroc Center, grew up watching a earlier incarnation of the Gulls.
“I’ve been a figure skater forever and when we had the Gulls before I did halftime entertainment,” Wilson said. “I’ve been a fan of the Gulls for a long time. I saw a flyer about the audition yesterday, and my mom was like, ‘You have to do it.’ So here I am.”
Wilson was among those who have the bubbly personality the Gulls are looking for. And she has the ultimate ice-breaker — her first name.
“I was supposed to be a boy,” Wilson explained. “When my parents found out I was a girl, they didn’t have a name ready. I was a really big baby and all my relatives described me as a bear cub. My parents were thinking Amanda, then thought ‘Oh, Panda!’ ”
Pandas have proven pretty popular in San Diego, so you have to like her chances.
O’Connor expects a final decision to be made within a week on the ice girls squad.
The Gulls plan to announce the 2015-16 schedule in late-August. The home opener is October 10.
Adam Troxtell
Chickasha News
August 13, 2015
When the lights go up at Chesapeake Energy Arena in October and the Oklahoma City Thunder take the court, Chickasha will be represented.
There on the side of the court, and on it between quarters and timeouts, Kalyssa Singleton will be fulfilling a dream she’s had since about a year in to her Chickasha High School dance and pom journey. The newest member of the Thunder Girls is still adjusting to the thought that her ultimate goal is now a reality just months after graduating.
“I’m still trying to make sure, for myself, I’m still on the Thunder Girls,” Singleton said. “I wake up and have to remind myself that this is happening. Honestly, whenever they called my name, I had no words. I was overwhelmed with nerves and excitement.
“I’ve been working for it since I was a sophomore in high school, so I was really excited to know all of my hard work paid off.”
Months of bootcamps, Thunder Girls clinics and training on her own culminated in Singleton’s selection for the 2015-16 squad that will take to the court every home game this season. On top of her talent, it was Singleton’s dedication that Thunder Girls selectors said made her a clear choice.
“Kalyssa stood out from the beginning by attending optional boot camps and prep classes to prepare for the Thunder Girls audition,” Paige Carter, dance team manager and choreographer for the Thunder, said. “As a coach, this shows me that she is willing to go the extra mile to try to make this team and be successful. Kalyssa struck me as being a very well-spoken young lady, which is important because our Thunder Girls engage with so many fans at the arena and in the community throughout the season.”
It’s been a somewhat quick rise for Singleton, who only became involved in dance when she was a freshman. She said her cousin encouraged her to come along to a few classes.
“I fell in love with it,” Singleton said. “I think just expressing yourself. There’s a whole other side of dance that people don’t see outside of dance. It brought out a whole other side of me that I don’t show a whole lot.”
Singleton spent two years at Love to Dance in Chickasha, and she joined the CHS pom squad, performing at varsity level for all four years. For her junior and senior years, she attended Top Hat Talent in Moore.
“I’ve been in dance for about four years, but I think I’m just really blessed that I could catch up in a short amount of time and eventually make the team,” Singleton said.
In many ways, Chickasha pom was preparation for the Thunder Girls, Singleton said. There is an important team aspect to dance that she would have struggled to find anywhere else.
“Being a part of that team [pom] made me understand the togetherness,” she said. “You need to have a good relationship with the girls to perform better on the court or on the stage. Chickasha pom was a little glimpse of joining the Thunder. It made me develop a way of communicating better, and I think that’s going to help me now and for the rest of my life.”
When the time for auditions came, everything she had learned was thrown at participants at once. It was a fast paced environment, with dancers gathered from across the country required to learn routines and perform them perfectly in a matter of hours. All the while, elimination hung around the corner.
“It was tough to keep focused on what I was doing,” Singleton said. “It was kind of overwhelming, but we all helped each other. There were three rounds in a full day, and each round was a different style of dance. Also, in each round, people got cut. We would learn a dance right before we would perform in groups of three in front of five or six judges.”
Singleton made the group of 34 finalists on July 30, and by the end of the weekend was one of seven newcomers named to the group of 18 Thunder Girls. Now, after about a week of everything sinking in, more work begins for the squad to prepare for the season.
The first official practice was Tuesday.
“We had a mini-camp over the weekend, and that was more about the girls getting to know each other,” Singleton said. “But the first preseason game for us is in October, so it’s coming up pretty quick. I’m just excited for the whole process.”
As for the future, Singleton said she plans to stay with the Thunder and the NBA as long as she can. Something she only really picked up four years ago looks to be taking her on a life-long journey.
“Maybe one day I’d like to become an instructor, or maybe even become a back-up dancer for someone famous,” she said.
The New England Patriots Cheerleaders have a new look for 2015. It’s a bit of a hybrid between their last two uniforms. What do you think?
2015 NEPC
Click to view full size.
The NEPC wore the uniforms on the left for the 2010, 2011, and 2012 seasons, and the uniforms on the right for the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Sports Illustrated: With the 2015 Canadian Football League in full stride in early August, here are some photos of the league’s cheerleaders, both past and present. [Click here] to check out the gallery.
Houston Texans cheerleaders in swimsuits.
Need we say more?
Fans got a rare treat as the Texans cheerleaders unveiled their 9th annual swimsuit calendar at the Go Texas Store at NRG Stadium on Saturday.
The 12 calendar cheerleaders were seated in front of their life-size swimsuit photos as they signed autographs and talked with fans. The public was then escorted to the cheerleaders’ locker room for a rare behind-the-scenes look.
“I didn’t really understand why people wanted to see the locker room,” said cheer coach and manager Alto Gary. “As you can you, fans definitely enjoy being here.”
Several hundred fans strolled through the massive locker room, where the rest of the cheerleading squad stood with pompoms and signed autographs. Gary said the Texans cheerleaders’ locker room is significantly bigger than most at NFL stadiums.
“When you have 34 girls, we need as much room as possible,” she said.
The calendar cheerleaders were selected by Gary in April and had their swimsuit photo shoots in May at the El Conquistador Resort’s Palomino Island in Puerto Rico by photographer Trask Smith.
The hardest part, Gary said, was selecting the swimsuits for the calendar. She found styles online at Bloomingdale’s, Victoria’s Secret and even Macy’s.
“You’d think it would be easy picking swimsuits. You want the suits to reflect their personality but still keep it conservative. It’s hard.”
The swimsuits also had to meet the final approval of Janice McNair, wife of Texans owner Robert McNair, Gary said.
This is the first year the Texans invited the public free of charge and the first time the public has seen the cheerleaders’ locker room. Last year, the calendar was unveiled at a private, ticketed event.
George Mass, a longtime Texans fan, said it was an opportunity to meet all of the cheerleaders in one place.
“I won’t have to worry about trying to meet them when the season starts. Now, I can watch the Texans game with no distractions,” he said.
David Matthews brought his 10-year-old daughter, Rylie Matthews, to the event.
“She’s the only one of my five children who will sit down and watch a football game with me. That’s why we’re here,” he said.
The Houston Texans Swimsuit Calendar sells for $10 at the Go Texans store at NRG Stadium.
